5 Years Fly
by 16thfiction
Summary: In this series of chapters that span over a period of five years, Cory and Topanga experience the changes of becoming new parents, their closest friends act on their life choices, and Riley has her first encounters with the world. (Story 8 in Meeting The World Fanfic series)
1. Chapter 1

Everything had been majorly taken for granted before Riley was born. Spending time alone with each other and hanging out with friends had been normal for Cory and Topanga, and sleeping all night had been easy. They were a young, free college couple, living in independence for the first time in their lives.

After becoming parents, their independence died. Dependence was born in the form of a screaming newborn who wasn't able to do anything by herself, depending on her parents to feed her, ease her back to sleep when she woke up, and worst of all, change her diapers.

Parenthood didn't include freedom, nor did it provide alone time, social interaction, or sleep. It didn't provide sanity, either.


	2. Chapter 2

"Topanga, please no. _Please no._"

Cory pouted as he squeezed his hands together in a begging manner, shaking his head as his wife laid their baby on the changing table and reached for a clean diaper. The phone persistently rang in the background, and Topanga seemed annoyed and rushed as she tossed sanitary wipes to Cory.

"Cory, the law firm told me they'd call tonight. I need to answer the phone before they hang up." Topanga said, leaving the bedroom as Cory strangled the plastic bag of wipes.

Glancing at the five-month-old Riley, who was carefree as she kicked her legs and stared with innocent fascination at the mobile jiggling above her changing table, Cory whined with an exasperated frown. "Riley, whydo have to _go_ so much?"

It was comical for anyone to watch Cory Matthews change a diaper; he acted like he was preparing to perform life-threatening surgery on a dying patient. Stretching a mask over his nose and mouth, then clipping his nostrils shut with a clothes pin for back-up protection from the smells, he wiggled his hands into two layers of gloves. He strained his head up towards the ceiling and whispered a prayer before tip-toeing hesitantly to the changing table, proceeding to nearly throw up as he rushed to change Riley's diaper.

Once, Cory had literally thrown up in the middle of doing this, and every time since, he had tried to completely sterilize himself every time he had to change her.

This time, he survived, successfully strapping a fresh diaper around Riley before ripping off his gloves and running to watch his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

"Riley, you're five months old. You can sleep through the night now..." Topanga moaned in a whisper, reaching underneath the lamp to twist it on while cradling her whimpering baby in her arms. "You're old enough now...come on..."

Gently bouncing up and down while holding Riley, Topanga glanced to their bed as Cory groaned, his voice muffled as his face had flopped into his pillow in hopeless distress.

"How do we know that babies even sleep, Topanga?" Cory asked in monotonous sarcasm. "Did we read the instruction manual right?"

Topanga rolled her eyes and clenched her jaw at his pointless complaining. "Shut up if you're not going to help me."

Turning onto his back, Cory sighed as Riley continued crying. "What if we tried ignoring her? Maybe she'd go back to sleep."

"That didn't work last time, Cory."

"Does she need to be changed?"

Topanga paused to sniff briefly. "No, I can't smell anything."

"Is she hungry?"

"I just fed her a couple hours ago."

"Let me hold her for a second."

Sitting on the bedside, Topanga placed her in Cory's hands. He held Riley up in the air, gazing at his daughter, dressed in her tiny pink, flannel footie PJs. Tears dripped down her smooth cheeks, and her small brown eyes were bloodshot from crying and exhaustion.

"Hey, baby girl." Cory said softly, grinning to calm her as she looked into his eyes. "What's the matter? You're tired, too. So are Mommy and Daddy, it's 3:00 AM."

Laying her on his chest, Cory stroked her back and shushed her soothingly, feeling her chest quake against his as she began controlling her sobs. Topanga smiled at her husband's tender comfort as she reached for Riley's small hands and rubbed it with her thumb.

Maybe Riley had only wanted the presence and touch of her parents, because soon, all three of them were sleeping soundly in the bed together.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, Topanga! I haven't talked to you in a couple weeks, what's been up?"

Angela balanced herself on the edge of her bed, stretching the spiraled cord of the receiver out as she smiled, relieved to hear her best friend's voice again. The lamp set on her nightstand left an orange blush on the walls of the dorm room, and black storm clouds darkened the city outside, smearing the windows with rain.

"Hey, Angela!" Topanga's fake, cheery tone seemed to successfully dub over the fatigue that racked her voice. "Nothing's been up, I've just been taking care of Riley."

In their apartment a few blocks away from NYU, Topanga was struggling to ignore the exhaustion that burned her eyes and the yawns that sat in her throat. In front of her, Riley was knocked out beneath her blankets in her baby swing, her head tilted onto her shoulder as she sucked her pacifier in her sleep.

It was just as rainy and dark there as it was in Angela's dorm, the TV providing a little extra light as it flickered with the changing of scenes in the commercials. Cory would be home from work in a little over an hour, as it was almost 4:45. Reluctantly, Topanga had called him and asked if he could bring home fast food for dinner again; she didn't have any energy to cook dinner, and that had also been the case for most nights.

"How's that little sweetie doing?" Angela asked. "It's been months since I've seen her-and _you_! We have to meet up sometime."

"I know, I've really missed you, Angela," Topanga said, gazing at her sleeping daughter slowly rocking back and forth in her swing. "Free time doesn't exist for me anymore. I've had to focus all my time on Riley lately."

"When will you be back at NYU? It's been five months since Riley was born, right?"

"Yeah, she'll be six months next week," Topanga said, realizing it was already June. "I'm planning on going back this fall, and I could leave her in daycare-or maybe with Eric-during the afternoon's while I'm taking classes."

"How much longer until you earn your degree?"

"Probably about three years. Still a long time."

"How much longer for Cory?"

"Two years, I think. He's doing really well, he should be prepared enough to get a job teaching elementary grades right after he graduates."

"That's good, I think he'll make a nice teacher." Angela said, suddenly laughing as she continued, "You think he'll be around to teach Riley when she's old enough?"

Topanga responded with a laugh, too, saying, "I don't think she'd want _Cory _to teach her. He'd probably drive her crazy monitoring everything she did at school. You know how he overreacts over anything.."

"Exactly-I bet he'll go insane over boys, right?" Angela started laughing really hard at the thought. "Girl, your daughter's gonna grow up to be an old maid with Cory as her dad!"

"Oh gosh, Angela, I don't even want to _think _about those years." Topanga said in all seriousness, yet smiling a little as well.

Topanga knew he'd be an overprotective nut to their daughter, but at least it meant he was very caring. When she had mentioned the plan of leaving her with Eric at the orphanage while they were at classes, Cory freaked out over a crazy idea of visitors thinking she would be up for adoption.

_"What? Topanga, are you insane?! People could think she's up for adoption!" Cory had shouted immediately. "Someone could end up adopting our daughter!" _

_Topanga had laughed in disbelief at his ridiculous reaction. "Do you know how stupid you sound? Cory, Eric would never let his niece get adopted!" _

_"He's too nutty, Topanga. Eric would find a loophole through reality and then it wouldn't be so unrealistic anymore, huh?"_

"So, Topanga?" Angela interrupted Topanga's mental flashback. "You wanna meet up at Svorski's on Tuesday at 2:00 for coffee? Mrs. Svorski would love to see Riley again, and I wanna see the both of you _soon_."

"Riley has a check-up scheduled at the doctor's office that day," Topanga said in a downcast tone. "Friday should work though. Wanna meet up then? Same time, same place?"

"Oh, Topanga, I'll be going to visit my dad for a few weeks by then. You sure you can't just cancel her appointment? I miss you.."

"I really can't, Angela. It's the only opening they have, and she needs her six-month-old check up sooner than later."

Angela sighed. "Okay, it's fine. We'll meet for sure when I get back, okay?"

"Okay, we will."

"See you then. Bye-"

"Bye-"

Both hung up the receiver with a sigh. It had been way too long since they had talked face to face.

Just then, Cory came in, carrying a grease-stained bag of fast-food as he grinned at his wife and daughter sitting together by the couch.

"Hey, girlies! Daddy's home!" Cory tossed the bag onto the kitchen table and came to sit next to Topanga. She thought about how cute he looked suited up in his McDonald's uniform and visor as she greeted him with a smile and a kiss.

"Cory, we're losing our social lives," Topanga remarked as they both smiled at their tiny daughter. "Our little booger is taking our free time away."

"Yeah, but I'd rather have no free time with others and lots of time with her than lots of free time with others and no time with her, wouldn't you?" He said thoughtfully.

Topanga smiled, nodding her head. "Yeah, you're right. I guess she's our new best friend now."


	5. Chapter 5

It really stung his conscience, but for some reason, what he was feeling felt _true_. He didn't think his mind was lying or tricking him like usual: he actually felt like he disliked their baby girl.

Shawn repeatedly glanced from the yellow dashes on the road that stretched beneath his tires to the picture of the eight-month-old Riley on his dashboard. She was beaming with a cheeky grin as she sat in her parent's lap at Svorski's Bakery, her hair beginning to thicken and darken to brown. She was looking so much like Cory, her eyes shaping like his were and colored brown as well.

_For her sake, she'd better end up with Topanga's hairstyle,_ Shawn thought. _A head full of Cory's tightly stiffened curls would look creepy on a girl._

Shawn sighed, watching the orange-pink sun try to hide behind the rocky, barren mountains in the horizon as he absent-mindedly drove nowhere. He was probably near California, maybe Nevada, and he hadn't decided to stop for a rest. Getting away without looking back seemed to be his therapy when he was stressed, and listening to the radio sing to him all night didn't sound bad.

Surprisingly, this summer had been one of the best of Shawn's life. After Riley was born in December, he went back to Philadelphia and shared Jonathan Turner's apartment, helping him pay the rent and give him company. Once the school year at John Adam's High ended, Jonathan mentioned an offer he had given Shawn years and years ago: a summer trip through Europe.

Shawn was ecstatic, and traveling through different countries with nothing but a few spare clothes lying wrinkled in the back seat of his pick-up truck and a close friend in the front seat distracted him from what he would do with his future when he got home. Living with Jonathan felt temporary, making Shawn feel antsy to leash any opportunity and walk away with it.

When he came home after the summer, though, Shawn drew a blank in planning his future, forcing him to take the solution that was often used when he was cornered with questions: hitting the road. So, in early August, Shawn tossed his belongings into the bed of his truck, told Turner good-bye, and drove West.

Shawn owned his fair-share of stories involving his running away. It started when he was only six, when his mother had cooked Ramen noodles for the fifth night in a row due to lack of money. Shawn, being an innocently stupid first grader, had yelled to his parents that he was tired of the same food and was running away.

His mom seemed a little worried as he slammed the door to their trailer and stomped up the gravel road of the trailer park, struggling to keep his few toys and one pair of underwear from falling out of the piece of cloth poorly tied to a small tree limb.

Chet, his father, had cackled his good-natured, hoarse laugh with a smirk, reassuring his wife as he said, "That stupid squirt won't even get past the gates of this park, Virna."

Chet was right.

The second time was more serious. In third grade, Shawn's mother decided to abandon the family for the first of many times, screaming profanity at Chet before nearly slamming the door off its hinges and storming for the nearest bus stop. Shawn, inconsolable and tearful, said he was running away to find her. Chet was a little too nonchalant-and honestly lazy-over his son's threat, so he let him run out the door and head for town.

A policeman found Shawn crying and calling for his mom in the streets, and he took him back to the station and called Chet in. After awhile of investigation in whether or not Chet was actually capable of properly taking care of Shawn, everything became a little normal again when Virna came home.

A couple more brief wanderings came before he eventually ran off to nowhere in college after his dad's death, leaving behind a concerned Cory in order to travel around and "find himself". It wasn't successful, and he came back to Philly to his true family in the Matthews.

Now, Shawn was trying to find his future, and he honestly felt like he didn't have a real family to go back to if he failed. While Riley was completely innocent, Shawn felt like _that_ was her fault.


End file.
